Back To Bedlam, the debut album by British singer/songwriter James Blunt, was released in October 2004, on Custard Records, an imprint label partnered with Atlantic Records, and founded by singer/songwriter-come-producer, Linda Perry, who initially found fame with her Bay area band 4 Non-Blondes in the early Nineties with the global smash ‘What’s Up?’.
Nine months following the release of Back To Bedlam, the former ex-soldier found himself at the top of the charts globally with ‘You’re Beautiful’, a self-confessed tale about the balladeer finding himself confronted with seeing an ex-girlfriend on a London Underground train with her new beau. The song struck a chord with an international audience for its universal message of desperate, lost love, bringing Blunt various accolades including to-date over 14 million sales with his debut release, five Grammy award nominations, two Brit Awards, two Ivor Novellos, two MTV Awards, one Q Award, one MTV Europe Award, and the list goes on.
Following one of the biggest-selling debuts by a British artist ever, James Blunt has embarked on a 20+ year career spawning six additional studio albums, over twenty Top Ten international hits, multi-million selling ‘best of’ compilations, two self-authored books, a feature film documentary, two TV series, various roles in film, a London pub, and that’s just scratching the surface… Following ‘You’re Beautiful’, the singer/songwriter has ranked up multiple global smashes including ‘Goobdye My Lover’, ‘High’, ‘1973’, ’Stay The Night’, ‘Bonfire Heart’, ‘Monsters’, ‘OK’ and more.
Considered today to be one of Britain’s cherished national treasures, the pop star also finds himself selling out arenas in most corners of the world. Not too shabby for an ex-soldier who endears millions with his self-depracating humour on social media.
James Blunt – love him or hate him — he’s a wonderful part of the furniture in the house of British modern pop.